Evocations of the Child: Fertility Figures of the Southern African Region Elizabeth Dell

Evocations of the Child: Fertility Figures of the Southern African Region

Elizabeth Dell

Published by Human & Rousseau, Cape Town, 1998

ISBN 10: 0798138300 ISBN 13: 9780798138307

Exhibition of the widely varied and intriguing objects that have traditionally been grouped together under the label ‘fertility doll’, here defined as small, usually anthropomorphic forms made by women, with ceremonial use related to the lives and identity of women. With essays by various specialists.

Contents: Women and material markers of identity / Carolyn Hamilton. — Double talk / Veliswa Gwintsa. — The sorghum child : South sotho child figures / Marilee Wood. — South Sotho fertility figures / Gary van Wyk. — North Sotho child figures / J.A. van Schalkwyk. — The girl who ran away and other traditional beaded Zulu dolls / Marilee Wood. — Enigma dolls : South Sotho and Zulu figures? / Marilee Wood. — Zulu clay dolls / Frank Jolles. — Venda and Pedi clay initiation figures for the domba and khomba ceremonies / Karen Harber. — Tsonga figures / Rayda Becker. — Ntwane grass figures / Hazel Friedman. — The puzzle of the pendant figures / Karel Nel, Nessa Leibhammer. — Swazi evocations of the child / Karel Nel. — Gender ambiguities and the Venda thahu / Anitra Nettleton. — Tonga child figures / Karel Nel. — Lenge tattooed and scarified figures / J.A. van Schalkwyk. — Mpondo / Yvonne Winters. — Tswana child figures / J.A. van Schalkwyk. — Kwanyama Ovambo child figures / Margo Timm . — Evocations of the child / Karel Nel, Nessa Leibhammer.